FILM SYNOPSIS: Andre (Jamel Debbouze), a down-on-his-luck gambler, is about to jump off a bridge in Paris. He insteads saves a mysterious beauty named Angel-A (the stunning Rie Rasmussen) from the river Seine. She promises to help him repay all his debts. He finds himself falling for this beauty who may also be his gaurdian angel.

ANALYSIS:
Director Luc Besson has made an impact on film in the last 20 years whether he is writing, directing and/or producing films such as LA FEMME NIKTA, LEON THE PROFESSIONAL, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, and THE TRANSPORTER films. Even though ANGEL-A is the second-to-last film he has directed to date, it is the last film he directed to be released in the USA.

Besson has a unique story-sense. He combines emotion along with imagery and sometimes even action. With ANGEL-A, he uses the power of black and white film to help the visual style he presents here. Without the black and white tones, ANGEL-A would not be the same film. ANGEL-A has a nice mix of romance, comedy, and plot twists. In a way, it could be compared a little bit to Wim Wenders' WINGS OF DESIRE. Luc Besson wrote an interesting story to direct. He has a varietyof material. Each of the films he has directed are uniquely different from each other while sometime sharing common elements like themes, visual style, and/or actors. I hope the subtitles don't scaresome away from this fantastic gem.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Other than previews for other SPHE releases. the only other extras is THE MAKING OF ANGEL-A featurette which goes behind the scenes of filming of the film and has interviews with the two leads and members of the crew (Rie Rasmussen speaks in mostly English since she had tolearn French for the film).

FINAL ANALYSIS: ANGEL-A is a fine film in Luc Besson's slate of films he has directed.Check out this fantastic black and white romance about second chances and redemption.

this DVD review is (c)1-5-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  


look for additional content at http://enterline-media.tripod.com  and http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com